"We've got off to a good start, but that's been at home and this is probably a big test for us, to play away. I've played down there and it's never been a good trip back home for me.

"Even when we've won it's just been by two points or something like that so I've never really left there feeling satisfied, it's been tough."

The Waratahs have had a long fortnight to think about Saturday's clash. They watched the Brumbies notch an impressive win against the Hurricanes last week and were not surprised when Stephen Larkham and Laurie Fisher named the same starting team on Thursday.

As far as NSW coach Michael Cheika is concerned, the legacy of losses and close finishes will be irrelevant this weekend.

Cheika said the outcome of Saturday night's match will come down to their preparations and "our mental state going down there."

"That's against what they've done, how they've prepared and what their head is like. On Saturday night we'll see who's done the better job."

He rejected notions the Waratahs would be motivated by lingering ill-feeling from the Wallabies' spring tour, when a number of NSW players were stood down for drinking late into the night in Dublin.

"I reckon if you have to motivate yourself by one-off, cheap antics, you're crocked," Cheika said.

"You get through one week and what do you have to motivate yourself with next week? It's all rubbish. You have to have a deep-seated motivation to win, that's it. It's round [five], if you're not motivated to win, deep inside you, then you're never going to win."

Palu knows there is a job to be done up front. The Brumbies boast a number of Test players in key positions, including front rowers Stephen Moore and Ben Alexander and mid-fielders Matt Toomua and Tevita Kuridrani.

The success or otherwise of the Waratahs' attacking strategy will depend - as it always does, but perhaps more than ever - on the No.8 exorcising his Canberra demons once and for all.

Palu said he was confident the pack could keep its rampaging run going for another week.

"It helps having guys like [second row Jacques Potgieter] and that around, but I think it's just the way we've been training," he said.

"Cheika wanted us to lift the intensity up in the contact area, especially in training, and I'm starting to see it come naturally now, without [him] having to get up us to go a bit harder. We've set a standard and we try to meet that now every training session."